News (1362)

Security firms slam Microsoft 'capitulation'

Major security companies have criticised Microsoft's OneCare security software and the software giant's decision to stop charging for the offering. Read more »

Virus downs London hospitals

Three London hospitals have had to shut down most of their computer systems after being struck by a virus. Read more »

Yang's departure could open Microsoft door

Jerry Yang's resignation as chief executive of Yahoo opens the door wide for another Microsoft offer, analysts and shareholders said this week. Read more »

Microsoft puts Exchange, SharePoint online

For perhaps the first time in its history, Microsoft made the case on Monday that businesses shouldn't run its software. Instead, the software maker argued that corporations should let Microsoft run the software for them. Read more »

Adobe bringing full-fledged Flash to phones

Inspired by a new generation of smartphones, Adobe Systems has begun a new, higher-power effort to spread its Flash technology to mobile devices. Read more »

Ballmer rules out new Yahoo bid

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer today said that Microsoft was "not interested" in making a new offer for internet company Yahoo, despite Yahoo's share price currently sitting at less than half what Microsoft initially offered. Read more »

Microsoft aims Windows 7 for 2009 holiday season

In a technical session on Thursday afternoon, Microsoft provided the clearest public indication that it is planning on getting Windows 7 completed in time to run on PCs that ship for next year's holiday buying season. Read more »

Ballmer tells Oz: get with the broadband

Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer yesterday tip-toed around Australia's broadband debate but said that if the country was to engage in cloud computing business that telcos and the government needed to 'get on with' delivering high speed broadband — at a fair price. Read more »

Windows 7 gets mixed reviews

As developers received their copies of Windows 7 on Tuesday in the US, they offered varied reactions to the Microsoft operating system update. Read more »

Google launches limited API support for OpenID

On Wednesday Google formally announced its support as a provider for the OpenID 2.0 protocol, offering some site owners a way to let users log-in and register for new accounts using existing Google account information. Read more »

Features (2053)

The benefits of agile development

I recently spoke to Scott Ambler, Practice Leader Agile Development, Rational Software from IBM about the benefits of the agile development method. Read more »

How do I... Serialise a hash table in C# when the application requires it?

Unfortunately, the .NET Framework does not allow serialisation of any object that implements the IDictionary interface. This restriction includes, but is not limited to, hash tables. Read more »

Script Table definitions using TSQL

Generating scripts in SQL Server using TSQL has never been easy. This article will show you how you can use TSQL in SQL Server 2005 code to script a table's definition. Read more »

10 ways to get a slipping project back on track

Plenty of things can derail a project plan: underestimated tasks, departing staff, misallocated resources. Here are some practical techniques that can correct the direction of a project that's losing ground. Read more »

Should you install the new version of Java?

Sun Microsystems released a new version of Java for Windows, Linux and Solaris recently. Should you rush out to install it? Probably not. Read more »

Batch scripting of Windows host file changes

DNS is the manageable way to resolve computer names to IP addresses, yet Windows admins usually use host files because they always work. But when you need to make a change to a bunch of host entries, where do you start? Read more »

10 questions to ask before migrating to Linux

If you're thinking about making the switch to Linux, Jack Wallen is all for it -- but only if you approach the migration with your eyes open. He recommends that you evaluate a number of key issues before taking this big step. Read more »

Use the FileSystemWatcher to monitor directory changes in C#

One of the more interesting objects included in the Microsoft .NET Framework class library is the System.IO.FileSystemWatcher. This object allows you to be notified when certain events occur in a directory, such as file creation, deletion, or modification. Read more »

Maintaining state in ASP.NET: Know your options

Maintaining state is a problem that all Web developers face regardless of the platform. ASP.NET adds four options on top of the standard approaches on the Web. This article drills down on these options. Read more »

The 7 most important communication skills an IT leader should have

Everyone wants to tell IT pros that they need to develop people skills, but no one really tells what those skills are. Here are the most important skills an IT leader should have and how to develop them. Read more »

Video (13)

Yang's resignation: The talk of Silicon Valley

Silicon Valley is atwitter over what kind of CEO Yahoo needs to hire to replace the outgoing Jerry Yang. Read more »

The Sun sets for 6,000 employees

Sun Microsystems is the latest tech giant to announce dismal numbers for the fourth quarter and the need to layoff a significant portion of its workforce. On this Daily Debrief, CNET's Kara Tsuboi and Dawn Kawamoto discuss the 6,000 expected layoffs and possible next steps for this Silicon Valley institution. Read more »

Jacobson: UML is broken

Ivar Jacobson says UML today needs to be fixed, needs to be simplified and is just too big to be useful. Read more »

Ivar Jacobson: Developers are too fashionable

One of the fathers of software development processes says the industry is too fashionable, needs to stop re-inventing the wheel, and focus on being more creative. Read more »

IBM not the Big Blue it was: Union

IBM workers once believed they didn't need a union because working conditions used to be the best in the industry, but the competitive market has led to cost cutting measures which have had their toll, according to the Australian Services Union. Read more »

Captain Obvious vs the Crackpots -- Club Builder

In the case of the bleeding obvious, IBM says open source needs good designers; a claim is made that China can activate your phone to snoop on you; and we take a look at the Defcon conference. Read more »

Avoiding security risks with AIR

Being a native application, AIR needs far more security than a typical Flash application. Mike Downey, principal evangelist, Adobe, discusses the extra steps Adobe had to take with AIR. Read more »

What's a FishSquirrel look like? -- Club Builder

This week on Club Builder, we look at Robots, javascript interpreters and iPhones. What more does a geek need? Read more »

Getting started with Windows Live services

What knowledge is required to use Microsoft's Live services? Angus Logan explains what Microsoft and non-Microsoft developers need to know. Read more »

Three passwords are enough

Bill Cheswick, a security expert from AT&T Research, explains why most people don't need more than three passwords. Read more »

Blog (166)

Be wary of the rip and replace guy

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Ever come across a consultant, developer, or manager who wants to rip everything up and start fresh? Change may be what your business needs but don't be afraid to question their convictions before embarking on the new plan. Read more »

Sun's JavaFX RIA platform MIA?

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Adobe and Microsoft have taken the early lead in the RIA market but Sun is still waiting to get out of the starting blocks with JavaFX. Is Sun too late to the party? Read more »

How many Windows 7s will there be?

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- The internet has been awash with rumours about Windows 7, with a pre-beta release being handed out to attendees at the Professional Developers Conference in the US this week. But how many Windows 7 versions will there be? Read more »

Microsoft's PDC Potpourri

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- While not game-breaking in their own right, these little titbits complete the picture from Microsoft's recent PDC conference at Los Angeles. Read more »

Azure: A matter of trust

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Ray Ozzie hit the nail on the head when he said Azure's success will hinge on trust. Who outside (and inside) the core circle of ISV trust Microsoft? Read more »

Fennec: Firefox for Mobile reaches alpha

Staff [blogs:syslog] -- Mozilla has released Firefox for Mobile alpha code, codenamed Fennec, to users of the Nokia N810 and N800 Internet tablet. We take a look at the features of Fennec. Read more »

The good and truly awful celluloid depictions of computers

Chris Duckett [blogs:betaliving] -- Ever wonder why your lawyer uncle leaves the room whenever you turn over to Boston Legal? Or why your forensic science cousin can't stand crime drama? You know the answer: it’s the horrid trivialisation and dumbing down of an occupation to make it appear entertaining. Sometimes it is so unbelievable that it actually hurts and yelling at the screen is the only outlet. Read more »

Apple's iPhone engineers to tour Sydney, Melbourne

Brendon Chase [blogs:codemonkeybusiness] -- Aussie developers will be able to get up close and personal with some of the iPhone engineers in November to learn how to build applications for the platform. Read more »

StartupCamp Melbourne: The review

[blogs:bootstrappr] -- StartupCamp Melbourne looks to have produced just as interesting ideas as the Sydney event which immediately preceded it, but the Victorian start-ups appear to have stumbled during execution. Sydney 1, Melbourne 0. Read more »

Spellr.us needs a new dictionary

[blogs:bootstrappr] -- One of the only Australian start-ups to present at the recent round of conferences in the US was Sydney-based spellr.us, which has launched a Web-based tool to check and monitor websites for spelling mistakes. Read more »

Others (2)

JavaOne: Day One Gallery

JavaOne, Sun's developer conference, began today with a series of announcements -- before that could happen though, the lines needed to be traversed. Read more »

LCA Open Day

Yesterday was show and tell day for linux.conf.au with a pavilion full of gadgets, toys and cool stuff Read more »

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  • Staff Crying, mooning and leaving

    In this week's roundup we see that continuous whining can get results, Linux users get 64-bit Flash and Moonlight previews, the latest in the Yahoo/Microsoft relationship and Senator Conroy ducks and weave in Senate Question Time. Read more »

    -- posted by Staff

  • Brendon Chase Sun eye Web developers with Netbeans 6.5

    Despite the recent employment axe hitting Sun the company has pushed out a new release of its Netbeans open source IDE with an eye to appeal more to Web developers. Read more »

    -- posted by Brendon Chase

  • Renai LeMay BarCamp buzz: Let the hacking continue

    Attending last weekend's BarCamp in Sydney, it was hard to escape the conclusion that a certain "dot-com bust" flavour had seeped into the kool aid previously being drunk by Australia's web 2.0 and early stage start-up sector. Read more »

    -- posted by Renai LeMay

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